Frozen Green Peas (IQF, Graded by Sieve Size)

IQF garden peas graded on round-hole sieve size and tenderness, in 10 kg and 20 kg catering cartons

Frozen peas are bought on size, tenderness and the defect count, and all three are measured the same way in most contracts. The Codex standard for quick frozen peas (CXS 41-1981) grades on round-hole sieves: extra small up to 7.5 mm, very small up to 8.2 mm, small up to 8.75 mm, medium up to 10.2 mm and large over 10.2 mm, with at least 80% of a size-graded lot at the declared size or smaller. Tenderness is set by alcohol-insoluble solids, no more than 23% for peas and 19% for garden peas, because a pea harvested late turns starchy and mealy. On a 500 g sample the standard allows 2% blond peas, 5% blemished, 1% seriously blemished, 12% pea fragments and 0.5% extraneous vegetable material such as pod or leaf, and product counts as quick frozen only once the thermal centre has reached -18 °C. The trade calls the top tier Grade A, and the buyer names the sieve size, the tenderness limit and the defect limits rather than the grade word alone. Most export peas are IQF (individually quick frozen), free-flowing so that a catering kitchen can pour what it needs; block-frozen peas are an industrial format for further processing. Pesticide residues are checked against the destination's maximum residue limits - for EU-bound product the MRLs under Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 - and processors run Listeria controls after the blancher, the step buyers audit hardest since EFSA and ECDC traced a 2015-2018 multi-country Listeria monocytogenes outbreak to frozen corn and other frozen vegetables from one processing plant.

UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 0710.21 (shelled peas, frozen) total USD 650 million across 77 reporters. Belgium leads with USD 178 million and 129,600 MT at an average USD 1,376/MT, followed by Spain (USD 74 million, 60,600 MT), France (USD 68 million), New Zealand (USD 62 million, 44,700 MT), Poland (USD 44 million, 38,800 MT at USD 1,138/MT), the UK (USD 37 million), China (USD 30 million, 20,100 MT), Canada (USD 17 million), the USA (USD 16 million), Hungary (USD 15 million), India (USD 14 million, 12,000 MT) and Serbia (USD 7 million, 5,900 MT). Belgium's destination list runs through European retail and foodservice - Germany 20,700 MT, the UK 18,100 MT, France 12,200 MT, the Netherlands 8,400 MT - and further afield to the USA at 9,100 MT and Algeria at 8,400 MT. The buyer is a foodservice distributor, a ready-meal or soup manufacturer, a supermarket private-label desk or an importer-wholesaler. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers IQF peas from freezers in Belgium, Spain, France, Poland, New Zealand, Hungary, Serbia, China and India against the processor's certificate of analysis for sieve size, alcohol-insoluble solids, defects, pesticide residues and microbiology, the plant's BRCGS or IFS certificate, a halal certificate per lot where required, a certificate of origin, a health certificate from the origin authority and a phytosanitary certificate where the destination's rules call for one. Retail bags, 10 kg catering cartons or 20 kg bulk cartons move in 40-ft high-cube reefers at -18 °C on FOB, CFR and CIF terms, with the shelf life stated by the processor, commonly up to 24 months at -18 °C. Send the sieve size, tenderness limit, pack, volume and discharge port, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.